TAPGB - Chapter 29
The Abandoned Prince's Ghost Bride
"Well, anyway, I've been friends with Leah since that day."
[He couldn't stay for long because he was young, but he came by sometimes and talked to me about the world. I'm saying this now, but if it weren't for you, wouldn't I have gone crazy a long time ago?]
"...... Well, what is it? What a compliment all of a sudden."
Caesar was embarrassed by the praise and twisted his body. But Leah is sincere.
He came regularly to talk to me and gave me many things from outside as gifts, which gave me a break from my daily routine.
"It's no big deal, right?"
When Caesar turned his attention away from Lucian with his earlobes blushing, Lucian shook his head with a very flushed face.
"No! It's a very, very special thing! It means that my brother is Leah's first friend!"
"Hmm, that's right."
"I wish I was there with you back then."
"A best, you can only live to be 60. I think I'm glad we met now."
"Why?"
"That's because I will become mature in 5 years! Once you become mature, all restrictions disappear!"
Since the Holy Dragon Ceremony has not yet occurred, I cannot be out for a long time. And if Caesar had met Lucian when he was young, I'm not sure if they would have become as close as they are now.
At that time, Caesar was more arrogant and self-indulgent than he is now, so it was doubtful whether he would have accepted Lucian, who was just a human.
"Ah, by the way, bro. Do you have any desire to own a mansion anymore? Or did you find another villa?"
The reason Caesar came to the mansion was to have his own villa. But now this mansion does not belong to Caesar.
The reason he visited this place regularly was not to occupy the mansion, but to interact with Leah. But when Leah also heard it, she was curious.
"No, I don't have a villa. I won't need it anymore since I'll get my rare after a while anyway."
[Huh? Really? Since you didn't ask for the mansion, I thought you had already found a new one.] "If I ask for it, will you give it to me?"
[That's not true.]
"I knew that would happen."
Caesar clicked his tongue, saying it was rude.
"At that time, I looked into it because I needed my own personal space, but when I thought about it, I realized I didn't really need it. Even if it's a villa, I might go once or twice every five years, and wouldn't you think it strange if I settled in a human village?"
Well, he only lasts for a month at most, so if the lights in the mansion are turned on only once every five years, it's natural for humans to think it's strange.
"And I found out later. This mansion is not ownerless; it belongs to the imperial family."
[Huh? Really?]
"Really?"
When Leah and Lucian were surprised, Caesar responded bitterly, asking if he didn't know that.
"Okay. After hearing that, I completely lost my mind. My parents told me never to have anything to do with the imperial family. And there were very rare cases where humans got stuck here."
[It did.]
The cycle and length of life are all different, but at least one person comes in every 30 to 40 years.
"Now that I think about it, what happened to all the people who lived here?"
[He died.]
"Cough! really?"
Leah nodded to Caesar, who was shocked for a moment. He said it was creepy and trembled.
"If you think about it, there is no nonsense here either. It's true that people are possessed by ghosts, it's true that people are dying, and none of the people who come here leave unscathed."
[What? I don't kill people.]
"That's not what I meant. Among the people who come here to play, are there any who walk away unharmed?
"Everyone passes out or urinates."
Hmm... Is it? It may seem like that, or it may not seem like it.
[Oh, now that I think about it...]
At that time, something passed through my mind. Caesar's eyes lit up at my reaction.
"Why, is there something wrong?"
[Hmm... What should I say about this? I don't think I've ever seen anyone die who lived here.]
"Huh?"
[It feels strange to say this. I didn't see him dead with my own eyes, so why did I think he was dead all this time?]
A human being who was doing well just yesterday suddenly disappeared without a trace the next day.
"So he didn't die but left the mansion?"
[That's not true... Usually, when you're going somewhere, you pack your luggage. But there was never any sign of that. And all the luggage remains here.]
So, didn't you decorate the room with the theme of the humans who lived here?
"Leah doesn't sleep. Did she look anything out of the ordinary before he disappeared?"
[Well...]
As Lucian said, I do not sleep because I am a ghost. I was conscious 24 hours a day, but for some reason, on the day the humans disappeared, my memories were blurry, as if there was a dark cloud over my head.
At that time, I opened my mouth without realizing it.
[...There are times when I lose consciousness once every 10 years.]
This is something I have never even said to Caesar. That's because it's only been 30 years since this fact was discovered.
"What are you talking about. You're unconscious?"
[Literally. Once every 10 years, my entire consciousness disappears.]
At some point, consciousness itself completely disappears, like a puppet whose strings have been cut. And when dawn comes, it's back to normal.
The process was so natural that even I wasn't conscious of it, so it took quite a long time for me to figure it out.
[Oh, wait.]
Something penetrated my mind. I got up and headed to my room.
I could feel Caesar and Lucian panicking, but I didn't have time to look at them.
As soon as she entered the room, I looked through my diary. This is a diary I wrote when I lived here for about 100 years.
When we pointed out the times when the humans who lived here died one by one, we were able to find one thing in common.
[Ha ha ha... Crazy.......]
My soul trembled. I can't believe I didn't even realize this important thing until now.
137, 187, 207, 217, etc...
These were all years in which humans disappeared.
They all end with '7'. The cycle is bumpy, but that's not what's important.
[The cycle of my consciousness disappearing is 10 years... ... And, the year when consciousness disappear all years end in 7.]
The time when my consciousness disappears and the time when humans disappear clearly overlap. Realizing my shocking truth, I clenched my fists.
Even if I wrote in two short lines, I always followed a diary.
Then one day, while organizing my diary, I discovered that I had skipped a date by about a day.
When I thought about why I skipped it, I realized I couldn't remember what happened that night.
I realized that what I discovered by chance was not a mistake but a clear error.
A few days before I lose consciousness, I start to lose my mind a lot without realizing it, and I turn into a ghost without any sense.
Eventually, as darkness began to fall, I lost consciousness and when I opened my eyes, the sun was rising outside the window.
It was strange, but I didn't really care. After all, being a ghost isn't normal, and being unconscious for half a day isn't a problem.
But now it's different. Lucian lives with us.
What should I do if something unpleasant happens that I don't know about during the half a day I'm unconscious?
[What year is it today?]
315 years. There are two years left until the last digit of the year is '7'.
[Damn it, there's not much left, right?
Why did I feel complacent about this? If we had questioned and dug a little more, we might have been able to come up with a good solution.
"Leah-! Where did you go-!"
Hey! Where have you gone all of asudden? What's going on?
As I was covering my head in agony, I heard the voices of Lucian and Caesar.
'Yes, it's not something that can be accomplished by thinking about it alone.'
Moreover, since there are about two years left, not just this year, I will be able to ask Caesar for help in some way.
I came down from the room and headed to the living room where I was to ask for advice.
As soon as I came down from the ceiling, two people came running towards me.
"Why are you doing this all of a sudden? Your complexion is pale."
"Hey, ghost faces are naturally pale."
“Ah.”
I ignored the two people playing with words and told them the information I had found.
After hearing that, Lucian said he was scared and snuggled into my arms, and Caesar seemed to realize that it was something out of the ordinary, crossing his arms and tapping his fingers on the table.
"Are you sure? A 10-year cycle?"
[I told you. That was the only time I wrote a diary.]
"Do you know since when it started like that?"
[It has been like this ever since I started keeping a diary. I've been writing since I turned 100, so it's been almost 200 years.]
"You've been like that for so long."
[It's not the maximum, it's the minimum. Maybe I've been like this even before I didn't keep a diary.]
It's a shame that I don't remember anything about that time because it was so long ago.
[There are two years left. I'd be happy if there was nothing wrong, but I'm really worried because Lucian is there.]
As I hugged Lucian, Caesar stared at me.
"It's definitely a winner. Once it disappears, it disappears forever. It disappears and then appears again."
"Leah gone? No! Leah can't disappear!"
As Lucian shed heavy tears, he gave an explanation, not an explanation, saying that it was not going to disappear forever.
"You never know, this time it could really disappear for good."
"Ugh! You say Leah disappeared..."
[Lucian, it's not like that. Caesar, why are you making the baby cry!]
"Did I make you cry? If you think about it, it's your fault for hiding something like that."
When I glared at Lucian while soothing him, Caesar pretended not to notice and turned his head away.
It took some time to calm Lucian down. Lucian, more or less true, sniffed his red nose and looked at Caesar with wide eyes.
"Brother, you are a dragon. Don't you know how to keep Leah from disappearing?"
"How do I know? I heard it took that guy a long time to figure it out. It's hard to find the cause unless I witness it myself."
Lucian cried at the firm words.
"Yeah, I know it happens every seven years. So, what about the timing?"
[Period?]
"Okay, I'm talking about whether the dates overlap, not the years."
I hadn't thought about that. I went back up to my room and checked the date I had marked in my diary.
Then I discovered a surprising fact.
[It all took place in the summer. From late June to early August.]
"I would think it would happen in or around July. Exactly two years from now...."
Caesar thought hard, but couldn't find a sharp number, so he messed up his hair.
"First of all, I will come visit you in two years, around this time. Since you said you have premonitory symptoms, you should be able to roughly respond. If you do well, you might be able to find the cause."
[If something dangerous is likely to happen, always give Lucian priority. Lucian must be safe.]
"Hmph, what are you looking at me for? That's natural."
Even though he grumbles, hr have a lot of affection. I was glad that Caesar responded obediently.
"Is there anything strange happening again? There willn't be any more surprises here.
Caesar whined that he needed to collect at least some crumbs. Now there's nothing left to hide from him.
"Ah! Cellar! Leah, do you think there's something in the basement?"
There is. there is.
"What is the basement? Is there a basement here?"
Since the basement was locked for the most part, it was not unreasonable for Caesar to not know of its existence.
Lucian confessed what he experienced in the basement the other day.
When Caesar heard that, he made an absurd expression.
"No, what if I say that now! It's the most important clue!"
[... I also forgot.]
"Yes, your memory is worth knowing."
The sarcastic tone made me cry, but since he was the only person, or rather the dragon, who could explore the basement, he could only tremble.
"Guide me, this body will check."
I took him to the basement. Lucian, who was traumatized in the basement, followed Caesar while holding onto the hem of his clothes.
Caesar raised an eyebrow when he saw a small door located in a remote area.
"I didn't know it was in a place like this. I thought it was a warehouse and didn't even think about going in."
"It's dark, so take a lantern. And never in the room I mentioned! Never! You can't go in!"
Caesar took the lantern Lucian gave him and stroked his head.
[Then, open it?]
Wow-
The magic circle that was previously placed was revealed. When the magic was lifted, the sound of the lock opening continued.
"Bro, be careful."
[If something happens, scream. Got it?]
"Hmph, do you think there is something in this world that this body is afraid of? There is nothing scary in this world except my mother."
Caesar waved his hair in a confident manner.
Leah and Lucian held each other's hands tightly and watched Caesar go down the stairs.
He's got to find something...
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